Continuous sausage manufacture

ABSTRACT

A SAUSAGE EMULSION IS PUMPED THROUGH A PASSAGEWAY. AT A FIRST LOCATION ALONG THE PASSAGEWAY A WATER BARRIER MATERIAL IS INTRODUCED ABOUT THE PERIPHERY OF THE EMULSION. AT A POINT DOWNSTREAM FROM THAT LOCATION A HEAT LIQUIFIED CASING FORMING MATERIAL IS INTRODUCED ABOUT THE WATER BARRIER AND SOLIDIFIED BY COOLING. THEREAFTER, THE FILLED CASING IS HANDLED CONVENTIONALLY.

Oct. 17, 1972 s. T. MORELAND 3,598,916

CONTINUOUS SAUSAGE MANUFACTURE I Filed June 17, 1970 smugfsm/v FOR SAUSAGE EDTELE LIQUID liynkox r- L 'EZ CELLUZOSE COOLAN'f -z cook/N67 United States Patent 3,698,916 CONTINUOUS SAUSAGE MANUFACTURE Stephen T. Moreland, 789 Anita Ave., Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich. 48236 Filed June 17, 1970, Ser. No. 46,975 Int. Cl. A22c 11/00 US. Cl. 99-109 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A sausage emulsion is pumped through a passageway. At a first location along the passageway a water barrier material is introduced about the periphery of the emulsion. At a point downstream from that location a heat liquified casing forming material is introduced about the water barrier and solidified by cooling. Thereafter, the filled casing is handled conventionally.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Conventionally, a sausage emulsion is introduced into a flexible casing, natural or artificial, which casing is of limited length. Thereafter, the casing is divided into links and further processed, including heating to solidify the emulsion into a form in which it will be self-sustaining as to shape after the removal of the casing. As a practical matter, it has not been commercially feasible to use casings of unlimited lengths because of the difiiculty of introducing the emulsion into the casing; lengths of casing have been used based upon the length of stuffing horn that would receive the casing in shirred form. This has been a barrier to efforts to automate sausage manufacturing operations.

Efforts also have been made to produce sausages in rigid molds in which the emulsion is cooked sufficiently so as to become self-sustaining in form. Thereafter, the sausages are removed from the molds for further processing. Such procedures have not been entirely satisfactory from a commercial point of view because of the difirculty of producing a finished product having the same physical characteristics as a sausage produced in a flexible casing.

With the millions of pounds of sausages, particularly frankfurters, consumed every year there is a real need to automate the entire sausage making operation while still producing a product having the physical characteristics that purchasers expect and demand. There are commercially available items of apparatus suitable for automating on a continuous basis every phase of the overall sausage making operation except that of stuffing the casings. The principal object of the present invention is to satisfy this missing link and provide a method and apparatus for continuously producing a filled casing of indefinite length.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The drawing is a diagrammatic illustration of an apparatus for carrying out the method of my invention and producing a filled casing of continuous length.

DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENT The following disclosure is offered for public dissemination in return for the grant of a patent. Although it is detailed to ensure adequacyand aid understanding, this is not intended to prejudice that purpose of a patent which is to cover each new inventive concept therein no matter how others may later disguise it by variations in form or additions or further improvements. The claims at the end hereof are intended as the chief aid toward this purpose, as it is these that meet the requirement of pointing out the parts, improvement, or combinations in which the inventive concepts are found.

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In the method of my invention the sausage emulsion is continuously pumped along a confined path. At a point along this path a casing forming material is introduced about the periphery of the emulsion and solidified into a a continuous casing. Thereafter, the confinement is removed and the filled casing processed in a conventional manner, i.e., linking and cooking, with or without smoking. I prefer to use a casing forming material which is liquified by a relatively low heat. The material that I have found particularly advantageous for this purpose is hydroxy-propyl cellulose. Methyl cellulose or ethyl cellulose are among the other materials that could be used.

Hydroxy-propyl cellulose softens at approximately 266 F. and becomes liquid at a slightly higher temperature. The temperature employed should be sufiicient to liquify the hydroxy-propyl cellulose but not so great such that there is a significant precooking of the emulsion as it moves along the passageway. While it will vary because of other factors, a temperature of approximately 410-480 F. should normally be satisfactory.

At certain temperatures hydroxy-propyl cellulose is water soluble and, of course, a conventional sausage emulsion includes a significant amount of water. To protect the casing against deleterious action by the water in the emulsion, I introduce into the passageway, and about the emulsion, at a point upstream of the casing forming location, a water barrier material which forms a film about the emulsion and separates the emulsion from the hydroxy-propyl cellulose after the latter is introduced. A particularly advantageous water barrier material is an edible fat, liquid or solid. This could be an animal, mineral or vegetable product. The term fat is employed herein generically to such fats whether in solid or liquid form. Carnauba Wax also could be used.

The hydroxy-propyl cellulose is particularly advantageous because it is edible and has been approved for use in connection with foods. It is soluble in the gastric juices. It is very flexible in the solid form and is very strong. It is soluble in water below 104 F. but is insoluble in Water above 113 F. Thus, after the processing of the sausages in the casing has been completed, the so-called skinless frankfurters may be produced by removing the casing through the use of water below 104 F. If the casing, i.e., skin, is to be left on the sausage, the washing is performed in Water having a temperature above 113 F.

Referring to the drawing, there is a body, generally 10, which has a passageway 11 extending axially therethrough. Sausage emulsion from a supply 12 is forced through passageway 11 by pump 13 (from right to left in the drawing). At a first location along passageway 11 is an annular opening 15 connected by a duct 16 to an annular supply chamber 17. Supply chamber 17 is fed through a passage 18 with an edible fat from a supply 19. The feeding is performed by a pump 20. While opening 15 preferably is continuous (an infinite series of openings) it could be formed by a plurality of discrete openings spaced sufliciently close together so that a continuous film of the edible fat would be formed about the emulsion. Opening 15 and duct 16 are formed by the separation of body parts 10a and 10b, which are otherwise connected.

At a second location along the passageway, downstream from the first, is a second annular opening 22. Like the first, it could be a series of discrete openings about the periphery, but preferably is a continuous opening formed by spaced body parts 10b and (otherwise connected). A duct 23 connects opening 22 with a supply chamber 24. A supply passage 25 communicates With chamber 24 for the introduction of the casing forming material from a source 26 by means of a pump 27. The body part 100 is heated to at least assist in maintaining the liquification of the hydroxy-propyl cellulose. To this end there are a plurality of electric cartridge heaters 30 inserted in, and in contact with, the body part 100 to maintain the desired temperature of the same. A heat insulator 31 separates body part 100 from body part d. Body part 10d contains an internal chamber 32 through which a coolant may be circulated from a source 33.

The emulsion from source 12 is injected into passageway 11 so as to fill the passageway with an emulsion 35. This is encased in an edible fat 36 introduced through opening Thereafter, a casing 37 is formed about the edible fat by material introduced through opening 22. Before the downstream end of passageway 11, the casing material is solidified to an extent such that it will maintain the desired configuration of itself and the fluid emulsion therein. To some extent this cooling and solidification will be achieved by the temperature of the emulsion 35. In some, but not necessarily all, instances the cooling body section 10d is employed so as to achieve the required solidification of the casing material.

The thus produced filled casing is introduced into a linker 39 which is a conventional item of equipment for linking filled casings, i.e., producing divisions 40 in the casing at spaced intervals and thus defining the discrete sections of filled casing which will ultimately be the individual sausages. Thereafter, the continuous length is introduced into a cooking tunnel '41 in which the emulsion is processed sufficiently so that the desired sausages result. Again, this is a conventional item of equipment and may or may not include provisions for smoking, chilling or other processing.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that a continuous length of filled casing may be produced for processing into individual sausages. The various pumps 13, 20, 27 will feed continuously and can be provided with variable speed drives by which the comparative volume of material may be controlled to produce the desired results. The supply 26 of the heat sensitive casing forming material is preheated to liquify the material. In some installations this may be sufficient heat so that the material stays liquid at least up to the time that it reaches opening 22 to establish the casing and the supplemental heat provided by cartridge heaters 30 can be dispensed with. Similarly, by controlling the heat in the length of passageway 11, etc., it is possible in some installations to dispense with the coolant body section 10d. If a solid fat, e.g., lard, were employed in supply 19, that supply would be also heated so as to liquify the fat for injection through annular opening 15.

I claim:

1. A method of preparing skinless sausages from a sausage emulsion comprising the steps of:

continuously moving said emulsion along a confined path; continuously introducing an edible water barrier substance about the periphery of said moving emulsion at a location along said confined path;

continuously introducing a liquid casing forming material that would be deleteriously aifected by water about the periphery of said substance at a further location along said path;

hardening the material downstream of said location to form a casing filled with emulsion;

removing the filled casing from the confined path;

dividing said filled casing into links; and

cooking said emulsion to form sausages in said divided casing.

2. A method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said material is heated to liquify the same and is hardened by removing said liquifying heat.

3. A method as set forth in claim 1, wherein said material is hydroxy-propyl cellulose and said substance is an edible fat.

4. A method as set forth in claim 3, wherein said casing containing said cooked sausages is washed in cool water to remove the casing.

5. A method as set forth in claim 3, wherein said casing containing said cooked sausages is washed in warm water having a temperature above the liquifying temperature of the material.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,631,723 6/1927 Freund 99-109 2,811,453 10/ 1957 Childs 99-469 2,819,975 l/l958 Lethey 99169 2,872,763 2/ 1959 Meissner 99-109 X 2,961,323 11/1960 Underwood et a1 99-476 3,306,754 2/ 1967 Kielsmeier et al 99-169 3,622,353 11/1971 Bradshaw et al. 99l69 OTHER REFERENCES Rose et al.: The Condensed Chemical Dictionary, 7th edition, 1966, published by Van Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York, p. 388, Ethylcellulose, and p. 612, Methylcellulose.

HYMAN LORD, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 

